Select Local Merchants

As avid golfers themselves, Pro Golf Discount?s staff members boast a wealth of experience and professional equipment advice. They are eager to direct shoppers through stores full of golfing merchandise from brands such as TaylorMade, Nike, and Callaway, pointing out the differences between the quality products. They lead lefties to their expansive selection of left-handed equipment, and discuss the advantages of their specialty women's gear with ladies. The master club fitters evaluate clients? swings with advanced Launch Monitors and the Foresight Sports GC2 golf-simulation system, enabling them to recommend equipment that is suited to the customer's specific needs.
Most of the locations host golf lessons within their onsite golf theater hitting cages, where top golfers dish out expert tips and techniques. The Tacoma, Bellevue, Lynnwood and Bellingham locations feature repair centers, where technicians can spruce up clubs in preparation for upcoming tournaments or a golf vacation.

With more than 845 locations, Jamba Juice proves to the masses that nutrition can be speedy and delicious. Since the beginning, the company?s product philosophy has revolved around choosing whole fruits and other natural ingredients over artificial flavorings, sweeteners, and preservatives. The menu is completely free of high-fructose corn syrup and trans fats, and it offers additional accommodations for vegan and gluten-free diets.
This naturalistic approach is fully realized in Jamba Juice's selection of smoothies. Made with 100% fruit juice, sherbet, and frozen yogurt, the frosty delights range from all-fruit smoothies such as Peach Perfection and Strawberry Whirl to more indulgent creamy treats, including Peanut Butter Moo'd, an enticing blend of peanut butter, bananas, nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt, and milk chocolate. The lunch hour presents toasted bistro sandwiches and California Flatbreads that pack only about 320?420 calories each.
In addition to providing healthy eats to customers, Jamba Juice sponsors Team Up for a Healthy America. The initiative fights childhood obesity while encouraging fans to join the Team Up community of celebrities, athletes and other leaders committed to getting kids active?which they can do by visiting the main Jamba Juice website.

What happens when you say "Bloody Mary" three times? The masterminds behind Shadows Haunted Attraction won't say, but they invite all intrepid guests to find out for themselves. Once the group theatrical experience begins, none of the house's 15?20 visitors can leave, even if candles ominously flicker or ghostly faces begin materializing in mirrors. Afterward, guest can brave more scares inside the eponymous Shadows, a maze where startling, mildly gory frights lurk around every turn. Designed by Sinister Pointe Haunted Attractions, both haunts teem with volunteer actors trained in more effective scare tactics than threatening to tattle. Neither Shadows attraction is recommended for children 12 and under.

At Virtual Sports, the staff takes laser tag seriously. They helm three fields, which can be reconfigured into multiple iterations, where teams face off with professional laser tag guns used by military and police forces during training. And after the game, guests can check their stats on their online iCombat system.

The Sylvester family had bartending in its blood. Whether it was Uncle Mickey holding court with 40 years' worth of regulars or Tony Sr. mixing one of his signature Skip and Go Nakeds, they exemplified the easy grace and no-nonsense craftsmanship found in a true barman's barman. That dedication to well-poured drinks carried over to Tony Jr., who has spent the last 35 years training mixologists nationwide through the curriculum of his ABC Bartending Schools. Taught behind fully functional bars, his courses educate students in topics ranging from drink recipes and equipment setup to flair moves and alcohol awareness. His schools also emphasize employment; after graduation, students can take advantage of a nationwide job placement service to land gigs in Miami nightclubs, Las Vegas casinos, or the bar cars of Chicago's El trains.

In addition to teaching amateurs the ways of the camera, Hudson's Photo Workshops owner Bruce Hudson has been coaching professional photographers for over 25 years, in addition to being a craftsman photographer, author, and educator. When not teaching contemporary workshops designed for all skill levels, he creates portraits on location or at the Tukwila studio. The final images look wholesome and classic, ideal for a large custom wall display in your home. In addition to capturing portraits, the photographer outfits clients with prints and digital slideshows that facilitate online sharing. Classes elucidate photography techniques, including the rule of thirds and how to capture a 20-story human pyramid without a wide-angle lens.

Groupon Guide

The Northwest is home to a thriving art glass movement, launched largely by Dale Chihuly, a glass artist known for his colorful and large-scale sculptures, and for co-founding the Pilchuck School for glassblowing outside Seattle. Visitors who possess even a passing interest in glass art owe themselves a visit to the area’s several museums and galleries dedicated to the form, where Chihuly’s work stands tall alongside a new generation of glass blowers.
The Museum of Glass, 30 minutes south in Tacoma, is a great place to start the journey. Kids and adults alike flock first to the Hot Shop – “hot shop” is glass-speak for a studio with kilns for glass – which hosts an ever-changing roster of artists. Along with their assistants, these skilled workers blow glass before an audience, while a museum guide narrates the process and takes questions from the crowd. The general takeaway: Shaping molten glass into usable or beautiful forms is dangerous, physically demanding and time-consuming, but ultimately a fun team effort that produces exquisite results. Outside the hot shop, revolving gallery exhibits display work from around the globe, and the well-stocked gift shop markets everyday glasswares and topical books on the subject.
Next up is Chihuly Garden and Glass, opened on a large patch of land in Seattle, directly west of The Space Needle. The museum and gardens showcase Chihuly’s work, organized thematically in all its varied forms. There are sea shapes, Native American displays and a room whose central focus is a clear ceiling topped with dozens and dozens of overturned vases in bright colors. Eventually, the gallery leads guests outdoors to a glasshouse of floral shapes and a garden walk where spiky flora and fauna in splashy colors protrude from or blend in with plant life.
Want to try your hand at the art yourself? Seattle Glassblowing Studio offers guidance for one-time experiences as well as multi-week classes from its downtown hot shop. Or perhaps you want to see it up close and personal, and then go home with a gift? Try Glasshouse Studio or Avalon Glassworks in West Seattle, both of which combine gallery shopping with onsite glassblowing demonstrations.
Glassy Baby, a boutique glass blower that makes dozens of colors of decorative glass candleholders also operates a hot shop and store in Seattle’s Madrona neighborhood. Shoppers can feel good about their purchases, since the company gives 10% of the revenue from glass product sales to philanthropic organizations that focus on cancer and other healthcare issues.

Seattleites are fortunate to live in a naturally beautifully city, with mountain and water vistas to enjoy around every corner. However, even in such a lovely urban setting, one occasionally needs to leave the city behind and get back to nature, and Seattle offers its citizens many spots even within the city proper to do just that.
On the north side, Carkeek Park has the standard elements of a city park (picnic tables, a playground), but wander past the mowed meadows into the hiking trails for a more bucolic experience. The South Ridge and Hillside Trail are a lovely ramble through the forested area of the park. Keep an eye out for wood sorrel (pictured above), Pacific blackberries, thimbleberries, Siberian miner’s lettuce (pictured below) and other native plants. To the west end of the park, one can take the elevated bridge over the train tracks down to the beach, although keep in mind the beach is generally less secluded than the hiking trails are.
Heading south, the connected Ravenna and Cowan Parks provide four and a half miles of hiking trails that, for the most part, seem quite removed from their location within the busy University District and Roosevelt Neighborhood. Entering the hiking trails from the East side near the playfields, one soon enters the quiet of the wooded ravine, with its Bigleaf maple, Douglas Fir and Western Redcedar trees.
Discovery Park in Magnolia, like Carkeek, offers visitors both miles of forested trails and beach access. The main Loop Trail is almost three miles, and takes the hiker from open meadow to forest to bluffs overlooking the sound. For those interested in wildlife, this diversity of ecosystems means an opportunity to see marine mammals like harbor seals and a wide variety of birds (stop by the Education Center to pick up the park checklist, which features the 270 species that have been seen at the park).
In South Seattle, Lakeridge Park (formerly Deadhorse Canyon) is a small slice of wilderness within the surrounding urban environment. Set back from Rainier Ave, the hiking trails bring the hiker to the cool ravine around Taylor Creek and away from the busyness of that major thoroughfare. The park has benefited from major restoration efforts over the years, and now is again home to many ferns, salmonberry bushes, and more native flora.
Too much rain to explore the forests today? Check out more things to do around Seattle.

It’s a lovely idea, the thought of making homemade gifts for the holidays. Rather than fighting for parking and scrambling for bargains, one can be cozy at home, basking in the smell of cookies baking or soaps curing.
The reality can sometimes be a little less lovely, when projects don’t go as planned. But there are some steps one can take to help make the process go as smoothly as possible. One: rely on the experts. An investment in a class might save money in the long run by helping keep pricey ingredients out of failed projects. Two: know where to go. Stock up on all the best ingredients and packaging to ensure the best possible results.
Cookies and Confections
A tin of cookies, cellophane bag of caramels, or box of homemade truffles can all be big hits during the holiday season.
If anyone on the gift list is obsessed with macarons, the popular French sandwich cookie, Sur la Table schedules fairly regular classes on the topic. PCC Natural Market has a perennial favorite in its seasonal biscotti class, which comes complete with tips on packaging up the crisp dunkable cookies for gifts. Nuculinary has teamed up with Laurie Pfalzer of Pastry Craft to offer pastry classes that include holiday cookies. All of their schedules are regularly updated with new classes that might spark other gift ideas (like granola or preserves) so are worth checking out on a periodic basis.
For gifts for the most serious of sweet teeth, one must turn to confections. Oh Chocolate! and Dawn’s Candy and Cake regularly schedule truffle classes. The “Chocolate Man” Bill Fredericks has been teaching classes around Seattle for years, and now has his own eponymous store in Lake Forest Park. In addition to truffle classes, he has classes on “Dipping with Intensity” (adults-only boozy treats), or pâte de fruits (fruit and/or wine gels). Theo Chocolate has added salted butter toffee and truffle-making to its line-up of classes, and Hot Cakes Molten Cakery offers instruction in creating caramel sauce and chews.
As to baking and confection supplies, the bulk section of PCC Natural Markets is a great place to stock up on flours, sugars, baking powder, baking soda and spices. The Chocolate Man’s array of chocolate is dazzling. Pacific Food Importers (aka PFI)is also a good source for chocolate, selling big blocks of quality chocolate at respectable prices.
Canning and Preserving
Jars of jewel-like apple jelly or richly spiced pear butter also make beautiful homemade gifts. The cooking schools mentioned above – PCC Natural Markets and Sur la Table –also offer periodic canning classes. Seattle Can Can, aka Vic Phelps, schedules regular small classes in basic and intermediate canning at the HUB.
The local farmers market is a top choice for the freshest and most flavorful fruit, but for those on a budget, the discerning and patient shopper can often find good quality at bargain prices at MacPherson’s Fruit Stand on Beacon Hill. World Spice Market near Pike Place Market is a solid choice for the freshest spices to flavor your fruit.
Candles, Soaps and Other Herbal Creations
Those options are all delicious, but as the holiday season is already full of food-based indulgence, one might want to steer clear of adding even more calories to the mix. Some other homemade options in that case would include candles, soap and herbal toiletries.
Dandelion Botanicals schedules periodic classes in making herbal salves, lotions and lip balms, and also sells the herbal components and essential oils to help make them. Herban Wellness in Kirkland has fairly regular classes in creating those items, too, as well as bath scrubs & salts, facial masks and more, and owner Katya Difani will help you track down all the right ingredients to get started at home.
Zenith Supplies on Roosevelt does not currently offer classes, but does have soap- and candle-making books and the supplies needed to get started.
Package It All Up
Making homemade gifts is a labor of love, so one shouldn’t undercut the effort with ho-hum packaging. Just the right jar, box, or bag can take that labor to the next level.
For bags, ribbons, treat boxes and more, head to Packaging Specialties in south Seattle or Redmond. Zenith Supplies and Specialty Bottles have bottles, lip balm tins, salve jars and other toiletry containers. Hardwicks in the University District carries a fairly wide selection of canning jars year-round, including the elegant Weck jars.